Thanks to Tim for this sample! A quick side note: Right now I’m attempting a few things. My wife went through my samples and made an advent calendar for me to do during December. I’ve amassed four whiskies for my birthday. Oh and I said I’d at least review (not post) enough Irish whiskies to have 100 reviews of them. However every so often a… Continue reading Royal Brackla SMWS 55.38 “Flaming Red Wine Punch”
Thanks to /u/xile_ for pouring me a sample “Hey, sorry I brought this. I know you don’t like Sauternes cask whiskies.” I sigh. I said the wrong thing a long time ago and it’s going to haunt me forever. You see, I’m not a fan of Sauternes casks in the way they are typically used. Finishes. A young whisky is poured in for less than two years,… Continue reading Springbank 9 2007 Springbank Society
Thank you to the Toronto Whisky Society and Lohin McKinnon for giving me the chance to try out these offerings. All of the below are my own thoughts, opinions, and have not been influenced by the dump truck filled with money that I’m sure is coming my way. Oh, there isn’t one of them? I guess I’ll just have to keep on being a reviewer… Continue reading Lohin McKinnon Wine Barrel & Chocolate Malt & Peated Malt
After Lagavulin, we ate a lovely lunch at the Islay Hotel, where we ended up getting seated beside and chatting with an Australian that had made the trip to Islay on his own. Happily full and ready to go, we were off on the 40-minute drive to Bruichladdich. As this was my wife’s first time driving on this trip, I was understandably nervous and sober … Continue reading Bruichladdich Warehouse Experience
Thanks to /u/throzen for pouring a sample of this for me. A long time ago (by whisky standards, not by, you know, adult standards), the Island known as Islay (which means Island in Gaelic, thus being redundant) decided they needed to know who was the peatiest whisky. Some of the distilleries ignored this call to action, as let’s be honest, while it’s funny, it’s also a dick… Continue reading Bruichladdich Octomore 08.2
Thanks to /u/boyd86 for the sample of Teeling 21. Teeling was established recently. Very recently. And is currently running their three stills quite hard, using innovative casks, and overall being impressive. However, the question most usually have is this: “How in the heck do they have older releases?” They source their whisky. That’s really the only answer. From where? No official statement. It is from an Irish… Continue reading Teeling 21 Vintage Reserve – Silver Bottling & Teeling 26 1987 Gold Reserve
Thanks to /u/throzen for sharing a dram of this one with me. I’ve said it before, and I’ve said it again: Sauternes casks are not something I actively hunt for, as I feel the best ones I’ve had were given a long time in the cask, and previously given a long time in an ex-bourbon cask. That’s expensive. Let’s be honest, you don’t know if the… Continue reading Bruichladdich 20 1992 Micro-Provenance Single Cask 017 Chateau d’Yquem Cask
Thanks to /u/CatharticIntent , & /u/scotchable for these samples Bruichladdich Octomore is an odd duck. First off: No feathers. Most ducks have feathers. Second off, I’ve used this joke a few too many times. In any other situation, a niche product that was meant to take a record would have been a one time product. Think of prototype cars: You don’t end up hearing many iterations of them. You’d… Continue reading Bruichladdich Octomore 10 Second Edition, OBA/C_0.1, 4.2 Comus
Thanks to /u/throzen for the sample. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: My bias should be known by everyone who reads my reviews. And if you know nothing more from this review, you should know two of my current biases: 1) I feel Sauternes casks should only be used for long periods of time with whiskies that have themselves been in ex-bourbon casks for… Continue reading BenRiach 16 Sauternes
Thanks to Mark Bylok from the Whisky Topic for this sample. No pressure, however they have a pretty cool podcast, so I recommend checking it out. Whistlepig is an interesting whiskey. They source from different places. In the case of Whistlepig 12 Old World, the original 12 year old 95% rye was distilled by MGP in Indiana. However unlike other 12 year old ryes, this whiskey has had… Continue reading Whistlepig 12 Old World
Funny story. Wait, not really. Funny. Maybe sad. I’m fascinated by different casks. I’m intrigued by anyone who is trying new and different things in life. Why? Because while I may not always agree with the mentality behind a business/individual who does something different, I can tip my hat (if I wore one) to them for attempting something different. Yes, sometimes the road less traveled… Continue reading Arranpocalypse (Part 1)
Nearly 5 years ago I posted my first review on reddit, with the intent of starting to review whisky. I had just come back from visiting the UK for the first of three trips. On two more trips I would do 50 reviews in the UK to make up for the 0 on the first trip, as well as missing some rarer whiskies there. I’ve… Continue reading Caol Ila Reviews [1000th whisky network review/600th Scotch review]
Toronto Whisky Society 